The Detroit Pistons dropped their 27th straight game earlier in the week, marking the most consecutive losses by a team in a single NBA season. The team plays the Boston Celtics on Thursday and would tie the record for the most consecutive losses in NBA history spanning multiple seasons if they drop the contest. This all leads into a home game against the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night where the Pistons could conceivably stand alone in the record books. The streak was part of the discussion earlier in the week on the 97.1 The Ticket morning show featuring Mike Stone.
Although there seems to be considerable interest around the country in just how long this losing streak can stretch, there is an inherent sports conflict that could impact viewership of Saturday night’s game. The Detroit Lions are playing in a special Saturday night game presentation of Monday Night Football on ESPN and ABC against the Dallas Cowboys with kickoff set for 8:15 p.m. EST/5:15 p.m. PST. Detroit recently won the NFC North division for the first time in franchise history and is set to return to the playoffs after a six-year absence.
“I don’t know that many people are going to be fixated on 29 in [a] row for the Pistons,” Stone said. “It might be a note.”
The only way Stone perceives that people are going to be interested in watching the Pistons potentially break the record for consecutive losses is if the Lions garner a significant margin of victory against the Cowboys. If the game does become extremely one-sided in that respect, there is a chance that viewers may be interested in determining what is occurring on the hardwood. The Pistons gave a valiant effort to try and snap the skid on Tuesday, but despite 41 points from Cade Cunningham, it was still not enough to overcome a late 13-0 run by the Nets that sealed the victory.
“During a commercial, you put them [on and] maybe just want to see what the score is,” Mike Stone said, “and then if it’s winnable, [you may say], ‘Oh, I’m going to keep an eye on that.’”
Show executive producer Tom Millikan outlined a hypothetical scenario of a potential sports conflict in Detroit if the Lions continue winning football games and assemble a deep playoff run. Should the team qualify for the NFC Championship Game, kickoff would take place at 6:30 PM ET, roughly a half-hour after the scheduled tip-off for the game between the Detroit Pistons and Oklahoma City Thunder. The matchup is set to be played at Little Caesars Arena, which is just across the way from Ford Field, the home of the Lions, which could create heavy crowds in the area.
“They would move the Pistons game earlier,” Mike Stone replied. “They would try is what they would do.”
